Movie Review: Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights

When I was in high school, Friday night football games were a pretty big deal. My school day's "big deal," however, is nothing in comparison to the big deal that high school football is in Texas (I spent some time living in Texas, and I can attest to the fact that small towns quite literally shut down on Friday nights during football season, and that each and every game is taken very, very seriously). Friday Night Lights tells the story of one football-crazy town in Texas during one defining season.

In 1988, the Odessa, Texas Permian Panthers football team had four state championships about which to brag, and a burning desire to get another. Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) has the highest paying job at the school, and the town has spent a fortune building a state-of-the-art football stadium there. No price is too high to pay to win another championship game! And everyone, it seems, has his or her own demands in connection with those desires. Townspeople stop by to tell the coach what he ought to do and who he ought to play; parents put extreme pressure on their kids to play well; the community, rife with past champions, knows every player by face and name and never lets any of them forget that it's up to them to bring the glory back to Odessa.

For all the hype, Gaines has a realistic shot at taking the team all the way. Among other solid players is team star, Boobie Miles (Derek Luke). He's so good that he's being scouted by big colleges even before the season gets underway; once the season does start, he lives up to his own braggadocio. But the work on the field isn't the only effort some of the kids have got to give. Boobie lives with an uncle who is counting on him to eventually play professional ball and make the pair of them rich, and will say and do anything to make that dream come true. Quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black) has to care for a demanding mother. Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund) is the son of an abusive father (Tim McGraw) who punishes the boy whenever he doesn't live up to his own past football glory. Chris Comer (Lee Thompson Young) can't keep a girlfriend because he's just a third string player (the "back-up to the back-up" as he calls it). And Gaines himself isn't exempt. He's publicly vilified or glorified depending on the final scores, and frequently threatened with his job if the team's performance isn't stellar.

Though Gaines makes his plans and the team works hard, events get in the way of a perfect season. Injuries and personal problems eat away at player confidence, and the pressure on Gaines himself becomes all but intolerable. Yet throught it all, the team remains cohesive and there's still hope that the underdogs can pull off the ultimate victory. If they don't, Gaines stands to lose his job, and some of the boys things of even greater import. But to succeed, they have to get past a Dallas football team composed of big, tough, and very, very good football players.

I don't know that I've ever seen Billy Bob Thornton bad in a movie. I wept for him in Monster's Ball; laughed with him in Bad Santa; and ached for him in The Alamo. In Friday Night Lights, he's actually more a more understated character than some he's chosen in the past, but he's never-the-less magnetic onscreen. In fact, his quiet strength and confidence in his team is inspiring even when you're not one of the boys on the team. Tim McGraw, who is making his debut in a studio movie starring role, is a pleasant surprise as far as the quality of his performance goes, though his character is quite the opposite of pleasant (that you'll be thoroughly disgusted by Don Billingsley shows you just how capable McGraw, who is purportedly a very nice guy, has turned out to be). The kids on the team are also quite good, especially Derek Luke.

The movie makers auditioned almost a thousand real football players to fill out the 40 onscreen roles which lends some real authenticity to the football which is featured intensely throughout the film. And the filming itself is sometimes a little jerky and almost grainy in appearance (handheld cameras were frequently used) which gives it something of a newsreel or documentary-like feel. Combined with excellent editing and competent direction, what could be just another slick trick actually gives the movie an irresistable ambiance. And though many scenes are often quickly done and gone (courtesy of a script that is probably the movie's weakest point though is certainly adequate), you'll find yourself sucked in to the story to a surprising degree. In fact, I was both pleased and more than a little amused when, as a crucial first down was made onscreen, a man behind me in the theatre hissed, "Yesssss!" Later, a brilliantly executed touchdown play had half of the theatre clapping and even a few sets of arms raised in the "touchdown" sign. We weren't at a real football game, but we were so immersed that we felt like we were. That's impressive! Even more so is that the characters came to matter to us at least as much as the outcome of the game.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Friday Night Lights is rated PG-13 due to "thematic issues, sexual content, language, some teen drinking, [and] rough sports action." The movie is intense, and scenes of the Billingsley family discord difficult to watch at times; and if you remember what you were like as a teenager, you'll both relate to the party scenes as well as not be too inclined to let your 12 year-old see them. With some discussion afterward, though, I think Friday Night Lights could be a great movie for the family, including kids as young as 11 or 12. And for adults, it's a combination of nostalgia, dreams, dashed hopes, and much more—all together a heady mixture I recommend you enjoy in the form of Friday Night Lights.